From the earliest date all the streets of the borough were clustered in the form of a double cross on the gently rising ground within the small peninsula: Juggler Street or High Street across the modern Exchange Flags forming the centre from which Castle Street struck off to the south, Oldhall Street to the north, Water Street or Boncke Street and Chapel Street to the west. . The only monastic property connected with the borough was the house and barn in Water Street and the ferryright over the Mersey, which belonged to the Priors of Birkenhead, and passed with the manor of Birkenhead to Ralph Worsley. Among the residents in Water Street in 1663 was Richard Percival, who had one of the largest houses in it. He is said to have been a son of that Richard Percival, a Kirkmanshulme linen weaver, who was killed during Lord Strange’s visit to Manchester in July 1642, his being the first life lost in the Civil War, which indeed had not formally begun. It may be noted that the banquet to Lord Strange was held at Alexander Green’s inn called the Eagle and Child – the Stanley crest – and that the Alexander Green concerned in the purchase of the Tower has been supposed to be the same or his son.

Image details: G Jarman